According to NJ.com, a rollover crash on Princeton Avenue in Brick Township may have been the result of a medical episode suffered by the vehicle’s driver.

According to witnesses, the 71-year-old Lakewood woman appeared to lose control of her Kia Spectra. The car veered sharply to the right, hit a curb, and smashed into a fence before rolling onto its driver’s side.Continue reading

Football is one of the nation’s most popular sports – but it can also be one of the most dangerous. Every year, teens and young adults who clash on the gridiron land in local hospitals with traumatic brain injuries (TBI) and other serious injuries.Continue reading

A 62-year-old Roselle dockworker was injured when her vehicle was raised off the dock by a shipping crane and dropped. According to an NJ.com news report, the accident happened at the APM Port Elizabeth terminal in Elizabeth, NJ.Continue reading

In a new report released by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), officials at Bergen Regional Medical Center are accused of failing to protect staff members from excessively violent patients and disregarding employee injuries.

As first reported by NJ.com, OSHA tracked eight separate incidents from February to June of this year after being alerted by employees of the facility. In each situation, nurses suffered bruises, cuts, bites, punches and were exposed to blood-borne pathogens. In some instances, staff members were even cornered in patients’ rooms, unable to get to safety. OSHA issued the facility a $13,000 citation on August 18. The director of OSHA’s office in Hasbrouck Heights stated, “It’s clear that this facility’s workplace violence program is ineffective and should be improved immediately to protect employees and ensure a safe workplace.”Continue reading

The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission has recently announced a recall of over 1,700 John Deere lawn tractors. The recall concerns a faulty brake arm that can fail while the vehicle is in motion, making it a potential crash hazard. The recalled mowers were sold between May and August of this year at stores nationwide for anywhere between $1,700 and $2,700. If you or a family member purchased one of these machines, it is highly recommended you stop using it and contact a local John Deere dealer for a free repair. Failing to do so could result in serious injury or death.Continue reading

A study published recently in the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience found that although traumatic brain injuries (TBI) can disrupt sleep, patients who can sleep after a TBI receive the same memory-consolidating benefits of sleep as their peers without brain injuries.

Disruptions in sleep and memory are common symptoms after a traumatic brain injury. Even patients who suffer a mild TBI may struggle to sleep well and to remember things. In most people, sleep helps the brain retain information it has learned during the day. Researchers wanted to know whether people with TBIs would also find it easier to remember things after they slept, even though the TBI did affect their sleep.Continue reading

“Whiplash” is the name given to head and neck injuries caused by a sudden, violent movement of the head. The American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons estimates that as many as three million whiplash injuries occur every year in the United States, and that about 20 percent of all vehicle occupants involved in rear-end car crashes experience whiplash symptoms.

Whiplash can be tough to diagnose for several reasons. First, not all whiplash symptoms appear immediately after an accident. Bruising, swelling, torn tissues, and other damage may not be obvious for a few days.

Next, there is no single definitive medical test that can pinpoint whiplash. Instead, tests like X-rays can help rule out other causes of neck pain and swelling, like fractured bones. Medical personnel must also be careful to get a complete patient history, if possible, to help them identify whiplash more easily.Continue reading

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the leading cause of death and disability in children and adults under age 44, according to the Brain Trauma Foundation. Car accidents, slip and fall accidents, and sports injuries top the list of TBI causes. Currently, about two percent of the U.S. population, or 5.3 million people, live with disabilities caused by a TBI, and TBI claims about 52,000 lives each year – or about one thousand people each week.

The more you know about traumatic brain injury, the better equipped you become to protect your rights or the rights of someone you love after a catastrophic accident. Here are some more sobering statistics about brain injury:Continue reading

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) recently released its workplace injury and death data for 2013. The numbers show that work-related deaths dropped 17 percent in 2012 in New Jersey and the New York metropolitan area, according to a recent article in the Insurance Journal.

The total number of deaths measured by the study was 152 in 2013, compared to 184 deaths in the same geographic area in 2012. The five-year average for yearly work-related deaths was 163 per year, although the number has ranged from a high of 236 deaths in 2014 to a low of 145 deaths in 2010, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The trade, transportation, and utilities sectors accounted for 51 of the total deaths in 2013, while the construction industry had 36.Continue reading

Slip and fall accidents and injuries increase in the winter, especially in the snowy and icy New Jersey weather. Workers are not immune to the increased risk, whether they work indoors or out.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, most general industry accidents are slip and fall or trip and fall accidents. They cause 15 percent of all accidental deaths nationwide every year and make up one-quarter of all workplace injury claims.

Slip and fall accidents in the workplace can be prevented. Here’s how to reduce the risk this winter season:Continue reading